Mendocino Talon Barley Wine

Brewed by Mendocino Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Hopland, California USA

2005 issue: Bloody peach. Puffy collar of pearl-white foam. Bready malt nose with hints of passionfruit, stewed plums, and brown sugar. Mild whiff of solvent and lightly roasted husks. Soft, but loose, carbonation. Opens with a sharp sting of alcohol, yet with a cushion of juicy esters and bready malts. Malts take on more of a roasty harshness at later stages and fail to contribute any real depth. Cardboard/oxidation has begun to creep in, and on top of that, it’s medicinally brash with a rubbery astringency. Juicy esters are its only upside, and those are overshadowed by virtually everything else. Each swallow becomes more and more difficult, finishing with merely a snippet of plums which are ultimately negated by a dry, roasty harshness and peppery alcohol. Papery oxidation lingers for what seems like an eternity. Overall, the juiciness is nice and keeps all of the harshness from completely ruining this, and the aroma is halfway decent, but the carbonation is too loose, and the flavor is abusively rough and cloying. Not very enjoyable.

Bottle. Darker then the other Barley Wines I have had so far. Still a nice dark mahogany look. Smells of citrus, malts, yeast and mabye a candied aroma as well. Very full bodied and thick. Malts, raisions, and dark fruits are the flavors that I get. Also seems to be a bit ofa candied or caramelized taste in there as well. Finishes witha little bitter aftertaste. Maybe like a dark chocolate aftertaste? Not bad. Not my favorite Barley Wine. But very good nontheless.

This beer introduces itself with a healthy aroma consisting of dates, molasses, and toffee. It is a mahogany colored solution with a thick cashew colored head that leaves a good amount of lacing in its wake as it dissolves. This moderately thick beer is rich in taste. The taste is a combination of molasses, dates, barley, and malt. A hint of alcohol is introduced at the finish.

Raisins and currants upon first sip, this is a perfect winter drink. Nice mellow flavoring of dry dark fruits also has port like qualities.

snifter pour from a 22oz bottle thanks to Ryan...Cherries, sweet oxidized malt...a bit musty...sweet beer, maltcentric...some fruitiness. Incredibly smooth and luscious...I’m not tasting the burn from the 10.5%abv, which is nice...melanoidins dominate says Chris...agreed. Rich in its sweet maltiness, but overall its mellow enough to sip all night without thinking about it...and I mean that in a good way...it just seems right. Nothing Old Crusty about this...and that’s good!

tastes kinda chocolaty and has a bitter hoppy aftertaste to it. the smell is sweeter that the taste, the wormer it got the more full the flavor grew, rich and sexy

Nice glowing red color with little to no head. Malt is key to the aroma and the taste. Amber beer hint to this barleywine. Semi-sweet finish with alcohol that does not seem matured. Nothing special here, but it is tasty. clear deep ruby red with a soapy sudsy tan head. nose of caramel, cinammon, tannens and big alcohol note (somewhat vineous). big sugary malty flavors here with alot of dark fruit. light hop accents, but not very present in this BW. body is a little on the light side for a BW. lots of alchol heat doenst help matters here. becomes somewhat tiresome even with my 4 oz sample.

Dark, semi-hazy mahogany color with a medium-large off-white head. Sweet malty aroma with some dark fruit. Malty sweet flavor, alcohol, fruitiness with a slight saltiness. Some whiskey and dark chocolate in the aftertaste. Definite long, warm alcohol finish. Soft medium-light body. Very nice. Oh and by the way, Do the chickens have large talons?